THEY had it all. Sold-out arena shows. The honour of opening the 2005 Live 8 Concert in Philadelphia. And even an Ivor Novello award for debut album Employment.

The world was at their feet and they were prophetic enough to predict a riot six years before it happened.

So where did it all go wrong for brash Leeds rockers Kaiser Chiefs?

Drummer Nick Hodgson, the band’s main songwriter, struggles to put his finger on it, but thinks it has something to do with a steady decline in rock and the re-emergence of dub-step and other genres.

It’s an observation roundly supported by the pop-heavy line-up at this year’s V Festival at Weston Park in Staffordshire, at which Nick and the Chiefs played.

“It’s a strange time to be in a band,” he says. “We all know guitar music is at an all-time low.

“You look at the line-up at V and there were only four or five bands.

“Very few bands which started when we did have stood the test of time.”

Despite some supportive radio airplay and the attention-grabbing nature of its release (fans were allowed to select ten out of 20 songs to make), The Future Is Medieval, the Kaiser’s fourth LP, received a lukewarm response.

It means the band are set for a UK tour that will see them play at the type of smaller, more intimate venues where it all started for them.

Yet Nick doesn’t see it as a backward step and insists there’s a real buzz in the camp about their upcoming shows.

“I used to dread gigging but we’ve spent two years not touring so we’re ready for it,” he says.

Nick has fond memories of the Kaisers’ early shows in the Second City.

“I remember all the Birmingham gigs. We met Roy Wood once backstage which was amazing.

“The first time we played was in a little room in the 02 supporting the Ordinary Boys.

“Then we played in arenas which was a crazy time because we’d sold three million copies of our first album. It was just bizarre – like a total fluke never to be repeated.”

The old hits which propelled Kaiser Chiefs to stardom will be dusted off for the tour, most notably I Predict A Riot, which carries a new significance in light of the recent unrest.

“I love playing the old hits,” Nick says.

“I think most people know the rioting and looting connection to the song was extremely tenuous.

“It did cross my mind when we played it for the first time in Britain after the riots. I think the crowd were more up for it.”

By Nick’s own admission, the new record, much like Little Shocks, its first single, is quite different from what they’ve done before – begging the question: has it alienated their loyal fans?

“I don’t really know about that,” he says. “We are always trying to make a new noise, a new sound.”